Washington Governor Christine Gregoire on Thursday gave her approval to the new medical marijuana proposal being developed in the state Senate. The new measure is the offshoot of the legislation the governor weakened last week.

Medical marijuana has been legal in WA since voters approved it in 1998, but patients can still be arrested and lack safe access, which SB 5073 would have fixed.

According to Gregoire, Sen. Jeanne Kohlp-Welles's latest bill is "absolutely mindful" of the reason for the governor's "partial veto" of 5073 (which removed almost all useful portions of the original bill): her supposed concern that state employees might be prosecuted for administering a medical marijuana program.

I love the fact that more and more states are taking up the cause, but a state law is a state law until there is a federal change it will always be a uphill battle. The war on drugs just doesn't work. It never will